Author's Note: Sorry it has been a while between chapters, but things have been a bit busy. Still, I'm committed to Careese. They will always be the best!


"So, how's that super baby of yours?" Steven asked with a laugh. "Reciting the Greek alphabet yet?"

John peered at the man through narrowed eyes, slightly disgusted with his merriment. He agreed to grab a beer with Steven at a local bar after they closed the case of the high-end madam. The culprit hadn't been an angry husband out for vengeance as he'd suspected, but an unhappy employee. Seems the guy had gotten a little closer to his boss than he should have and when she didn't return his affection to his satisfaction, he didn't take it well. The case took a week, with Steven spending several hours with overweight sixty-somethings, but it all ended on a positive note…minus a few arrests for solicitation, but nobody died. And that was always the mission, keeping people alive. Now, as they celebrated a job well done, Steven wanted to play comedian. "Remind me again why I tell you anything," John said.

"I'm more experienced at raising children, and you're still new at it. So, you need another man to bounce off these thoughts. Besides, I'm raising twins. You may have a wunderkind, but with a three-year-old boy and girl, I'm being tested in ways you have no clue about…yet." Steven tapped his bottle of beer against John's and pulled down some suds.

"You may have been parenting more years than me, but no one is going through what Joss and I are with Davie." John took a swig of the icy cold beer. In the last week, Davie's vocabulary had grown exponentially. He was still only saying one and two-word phrases, but he had a lot more of them, and he wasn't quite five months old. A couple of days ago, he started pulling up in his crib. His son was both ingenious and a genius. He would be walking soon, and he just barely started crawling. "Davie is just… He's something else."

Steven laughed. "You're telling me. Well, you've only been telling me. I wonder sometimes if all this amazing baby talk is just proud daddy fish tales. I haven't seen any of these miraculous feats with my own two eyes, and neither has Sam."

"You think I'd make something like this up?"

"I'm just saying I haven't seen it. Maybe Davie gets bashful around company."

"He's a baby, he doesn't do bashful, and you stopped being company a while ago."

"So, do you see my point?" Steven drank more of his beer. "Samson and Stephanie can count to five, and I'm so thrilled that I'm about ready to enroll them in college." He chuckled. "Maybe you and Joss are just over-analyzing things a bit. So, Davie can roll over. Some kids are more coordinated."

"It's more than that." John drank more of the beer. "Joss asked some doctor friends to take a look at him."

"Take a look at him?"

"We're not concerned about his health; we just want to know why he's reaching these milestones so fast. And if anyone can give us answers, it's Angie and David. They'll be in town tomorrow."


"I have to say it again, I can't tell you both how honored I am that you named your son after me," David quipped as he bounced Davie on his knee. "I'm truly touched. Doesn't matter that his name is actually Davis, it's close enough to David to make me happy."

"Oh, brother," John muttered, as he rolled his eyes. "I knew that tired line was coming."

Joss laughed. David drawing that conclusion shouldn't have been a surprise, but when she and John decided on the name Davis, the good doctor was the farthest thing from their minds. They knew David was being facetious with his humility when he first shared his thoughts upon receiving the birth announcement, but it wasn't a stretch to make the assumption. "David, after all you and Angie have done for us, if it makes you happy to believe you inspired his name, feel free."

"I'm glad we were able to help," Angie said, stealing Davie from her husband's arms. "You look amazing, and this little boy is absolutely adorable." Davie quickly reached for Angie's necklace and attempted to put it in his mouth. "He's handsome in the pictures you emailed, but in person, he is a little heartbreaker." She pressed her cheek to his. "He looks just like you, John."

Joss gave John's hand a squeeze. "He definitely has a lot of his father in him," she remarked.

"This new home, a new baby, and you looking absolutely fantastic, I'd say things are on the upswing for the Reeses."

"Things are really good for us, yes." Joss nodded.

"You said you had some concerns about the baby. From the few minutes I've spent with him, the mother and doctor in me say he's perfect. He so happy and alert."

"That's kinda the thing," John said. "His extreme alertness."

"And it's not concern more than it is curiosity," Joss explained. "Davie is…He's…"

"He's a genius," John said bluntly. "My son is a genius."

"John, you're a proud father," David said, brushing his finger against Davie's cheek. "I think Oliver is a genius, too. All parents think they're children are the most perfect angels ever created."

"That's not what I mean. Yeah, I think he's the most incredible little person ever, but it's more. Davie's comprehension and motor skills are well advanced. He can talk, and if my guess is right, he's days away from walking."

"Yeah, right," David quipped.

"Seriously," Joss said.

"Come on." Angie gazed down at Davie who was now preoccupied with her earrings. "He's not even five months old," she said.

"Thus, our curiosity. He's healthy and strong, but he's way too advanced for his age."

"So, is our son the next Doogie Howser or what?" John asked, as the Haywards turned all their attention to a contently preoccupied Davie.


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